


until the stars die out

by mezzosaka



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Hoshimeguri AU, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 18:02:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16224407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mezzosaka/pseuds/mezzosaka
Summary: When the Star Gem fell, so did Vega. His words still lingered in Capella's mind, no matter how long it'd been.And Capella has been waiting.Waiting.Waiting.





	until the stars die out

**Author's Note:**

> HI IM EMO AND RUSHED TO GET THIS OUT BEFORE NEW INFO WAS CONFIRMED so as of me posting this, we still don't have info that makes this non-canon compliant SO PLEASE TAKE IT I LOVE NAGISOU IM SO GLAD WE HAVE THIS

Mistero’s temple was quiet.

Mistero’s temple, Capella quickly learned, was  _ always _ going to be quiet. It would never be the lively place it once was, with priests and mystics coming and going, with devoted followers making offerings, with people from all over coming just for a sense of community.

It hadn’t been the same since the Star Gem shattered, since all dispersed and the temple was met with that deafening silence. It had been chaotic and peaceful all at once—the world had nearly crumbled around them, and yet, the temple stood strong. The temple stood strong and silent, and Capella hadn’t even fully realized what had happened until he felt himself alone.

And Capella hadn’t ever remembered being alone before. He’d always had the others; it’d  _ always  _ been that way. Since he first came into consciousness, he’d felt the strings of their spirits tugging at his own. He’d traveled so far to find what had been calling for him his whole life. And when all of them had come together under the roof of the temple… Capella had never before felt more whole.

But after thousands and thousands of years… It was like their work had been for nothing. Each string tethering their spirits together had snapped all at once, and Capella very clearly remembered that it felt like his heart had been torn from his chest entirely. Each of their voices, which had comfortably made themselves home in his mind alongside his own, had gone silent, cut off before the thoughts had even the slightest chance to begin.

He’d hardly known what to do. He’d stood still in the center of his quarters for minutes or hours or  _ days  _ before he found the sense to move. The temple had largely been undisturbed, like no one had touched it at all in the thousands of years that they had all been living there. Even so, the whole place felt so foreign without the feeling of the others.

Capella shook his head, trying to bring himself back to the present. With nothing to do, with no voice to use, he’d… Taken to daydreaming, to reminiscing. No matter how long it’d been—and Capella truly couldn’t tell  _ how  _ long it’d been—he was not going to let his memory fade.

Vega was clearest in his mind. Vega had always been clearest in his mind, but especially so these days. These quiet, dragging days where Capella sat carefully near the altar Vega laid on.

Just looking at the being sent Capella back to the day all had fallen once more.

_ He’d just reached the Great Hall. _

_ Silence. _

_ He closed his eyes, slowed his breathing, and tried to listen. Tried to feel, tried to extend his newly feeble spirit to try and reach somebody else. Even past the walls of Mistero’s temple, Capello couldn’t detect a trace of anything. For the first time, his spirit was caged firmly within the confines of his flesh. Suffocating. Absolutely suffocating. _

_ Silence. _

_ And then... _

_ His own footsteps, thrumming like what might be a heartbeat in his ears. Capella couldn’t remember what a heartbeat was supposed to sound like, couldn’t remember what  _ living  _ was supposed to feel like, not after his mind had been a shared space for so long. He didn’t know how to handle himself without the thoughts of the others. He didn’t know his purpose without the Star Gem, without anything to hold him down. _

_ Every room he’d looked through had been empty, every hallway barren. Capella’s last hope had been waiting in the Great Hall for something to happen, and he was sure he’d been there for days before his eyes had finally settled on something he’d recognized. _

_ And the ever present smile on his face faded. _

_ Along with everything else, Vega had fallen. When Capella finally reached him, he’d  _ felt  _ something for the first time in an eternity. His heart had been in his chest the whole time. It had been there the  _ whole  _ time, and now, he felt it tearing itself into shreds. He felt tears burn lines deep into his cheeks as he knelt beside Vega’s body. _

_ It hadn’t even looked like Vega had known what happened. His face looked so peaceful, yet he had fallen as if he’d been in the middle of something. There was incense still burning. Beside his head, broken glass and a puddle of holy water. Beside his hands, prayer books composed by the visitors of the temple. _

_ The strongest being Capella had ever known—the one all of them had looked towards, strived to be... Fallen. Fallen just like everything else had. _

_ “Vega,” Capella had said, voice croaky from thousands of years of neglect. He hadn’t needed to physically speak when they’d been a collection. He couldn’t even recognize his true voice, so distinct from his voice in his mind, and he wondered if even Vega would have been able to know it was him. _

_ There had been no response. No matter how much Capella shook him, called his name, cried to the gods… There had been nothing, and the only way Capella could know he was alive was the rising and falling of his chest. _

A noise grounded Capella.

A noise, soft, steady in its nature. A drop of water into the pool beyond the altar, just under the stained glass. A wish.

Capella hadn’t realized he’d gone to Vega’s side again. Typically, he knelt just in front of the altar, facing down towards the door of the Great Hall, or sat neatly in a chair that had always been reserved for visitors before The Fall. Occasionally, he knelt in front of the pool, small and still, surrounded by stones brought from travelers. And even more rarely, he found himself in the study wing, off to the right of the Great Hall. There was never any book that helped him make sense of what had happened, no matter how much Capella had searched.

Vega’s face was tranquil, as usual. His snow white hair hung down over the edge of the altar. It had grown since The Fall. Capella estimated he’d been waiting for roughly two hundred years. The books he had been holding, presumably, before he fell were placed delicately under his head. Capella had fixed the bottle, shaped much like a crystal, and refilled it, leaving it at the bottom right corner of the altar. He always wondered when he’d be able to use it again.

_ It’d only taken a few ten years before travelers started visiting again. Capella wasn’t sure how the word of Vega had gotten out, but he had certainly been surprised when the first visitor pushed the heavy doors open. They’d creaked like they’d never had before, and Capella was looking up calmly before he had the chance to startle. _

_ “Is it true?” she’d asked, venturing carefully forward into the temple. “The prophet—The prophet Vega is protecting us?” _

_ “Protecting us?” Capella echoed, and he stood as the visitor drew closer. His knees ached, and, wobbly, he countered, moving to stand on the opposite side of the altar. _

_ “Across the stars, that is what’s true.” The woman stood opposite Capella now, her hands clasped behind her as she observed Vega’s sleeping form. “He prayed for the seal to occur. He’s keeping it safe as we speak.” _

_ “The seal…?” Capella’s eyes fell to Vega. For a moment, he’d felt a spark. A small tug.  _ Something  _ that’d shown him Vega’s spirit was still present. “Is that so?” _

_ “The other prophets have vanished, save for… Save for you, Priest Capella.” She bowed her head in humility. “Not many have traveled here since The Fall, I’m sure. I apologize for intruding, but I had to know the truth.” _

_ The truth… _

That woman had asked for a blessing afterwards. Capella had eyed the bottle, wondering if he should have used that. Instead, Capella had brought the woman towards the pond of wishes, sending her off with a sip.

Visitors became slightly regular, after that. Few and far in between, but regular, and most of them asked for a blessing and a story of what Vega had been like before The Fall. Capella had no trouble recounting that.

_ Capella liked it best when it was just the two of them. Spending his time with the others had been welcome as well, but alone with Vega… It was different, somehow, and Capella enjoyed it. _

“You’ve taken excellent care writing down the wishes of the people,”  _ Vega said, voice echoing softly through Capella’s mind. Somehow, Vega and Capella were able to communicate without the others hearing. The other’s voices faded to a subdued murmur in the background while Vega’s took the spotlight.  _ “Capella, that’s outstanding work.”

“ _ Thank you!  _ It is always so  _ wonderful  _ hearing everyone’s wishes! I have no problem doing it!”  _ Capella’s words made Vega laugh, a soft noise that shook his narrow shoulders and tickled Capella’s spirit. _

“You’re very popular. I… I, admittedly, am jealous,”  _ Vega had said. _

“Jealous?  _ Oh,  _ Vega, jealousy is…”  _ Capella quickly followed Vega, who had turned away his red face and made himself busy deeper in the observatory. _

“A starving beast, lying in wait to devour the soul.”  _ Vega completed the thought easily. Uselessly, he checked the stargazing pool’s calibration. It reflected the sky perfectly, as it usually did. _

“I think you’re  _ amazing,  _ Vega! The people like you more than the rest of us, anyway. Everyone comes for your blessing,”  _ Capella pointed out, and he joined Vega in sitting at the edge of the pool. _

_ Vega cast his hand out, causing the waters to swirl. A quick recalibration. Something must have been off in Vega’s eyes—he seemed to be able to see more than the others could. Vega claimed that the Star Gem was off-center compared to the rest of things. He wanted to keep it that way, though he never explained why to anyone. _

“I’m not jealous of  _ you,” Vega said. The waters spun faster, then stopped completely.  _ “I’m jealous because the people have taken your attention away from me.”

_ Capella felt like his heart had stopped. For a while, he stared at Vega, otherworldly in the starlight. Not a word had been exchanged between them, and Capella could only hear the dull roar of the blood rushing to his face amongst the murmur. It’d felt like fifty nights had passed before Vega smiled at him softly, placed a delicate hand on Capella’s cheek. _

“Remain exactly as you are,”  _ Vega said.  _ “And know that I will always return to you. Promise me that.”

Capella wasn’t one to break a promise.

Another drop sounded, and Capella finally left Vega’s side. That was now two wishes to record, and Capella was sure Vega would scold him if he fell any more behind.

Capella took the tome from beside the pond of wishes, dipping his pen into the water. His hand moved almost automatically as he felt the wish take shape in his mind. A prayer for healing. Capella hoped it would be granted quickly.

The next came as easily as the first. A detailed wish for peace. It felt less like a wish and more like a military strategy, and it filled nearly two full pages before Capella’s hand came slowly to a halt. It ended with an odd choice of words.

_ This, through Vega, I wish. _

A slightly unfamiliar phrase, but Capella couldn’t be too surprised. Many devout followers had taken to the idea that Vega had ascended to a much holier level than he had been already. It wasn’t something Capella could argue—if any of them had deserved to be elevated, it was most certainly Vega.

He closed the tome and set it back in its place. Drifting to Vega’s side again, Capella reached out to touch the being’s face. Still warm, still soft. Vega’s cheek felt much like it always had, his lips the same. Capella had tried kissing him multiple times in an attempt to wake him, and the most he’d felt was the small tugs he felt occasionally.

Those tugs had been coming more and more frequently now. He wondered if it was the belief the people had in Vega or just his own, old mind playing tricks on him. Capella leaned forward, pressing his lips to Vega’s forehead, and returned to his position in front of the altar.

He was prepared to wait until the tugs became pulls. Until the drops became a waterfall, until the silence became chaos, until he could sit with Vega in the observatory once more and feel his hand on his cheek again.

It’d been thousands of years already, and Capella would wait for thousands more.

**Author's Note:**

> THANK YOU PELASE SCREAM AT ME ON [TWITTER](https://twitter.com/mezzosaka)


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